Bad News, I'm off

Thread Starter

Sparky49

Joined Jul 16, 2011
833
Hello everyone.

I've had my AS results today and I'm devestated. After all the revision, extra classes, homework, school work - it hasn't paid off.

20 minutes before my further pure exam I did a mock in mock conditions I got a comfortable A* at 95% - in the exam I got an E.

Crap like this continues. Something is wrong in my 'jigsaw puzzle' and I need to find the piece. I can do the maths and the physics easy - just not in the real thing.

I might not be on for a while, so thanks to everyone for your help and chats.

I'm not doing anything stupid, I just thought I'd let you guys know.

Chat to you all later,

Sparky
 

Markd77

Joined Sep 7, 2009
2,806
Unless you know what went wrong in the exam, it is probably worth getting it re-marked. Mistakes happen in the marking process and if the grade is lower than your teachers expected there are processes for getting it looked at again.
 

steveb

Joined Jul 3, 2008
2,436
Every problem has a solution. Don't give up on yourself. The answer is there somewhere. If you can do the math and the physics, the critical ingredients are in there. Not everyone shows their merit on exams, and speaking about the "real thing", nothing can be further from the real thing than an exam. An exam is just a measurement tool, and an imperfect one at that.
 

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
I don't know how the exam system works over there, but I understand that you did a little mess on the actual exam, while you were expecting higher results.

Did you feel anxiety during the exam? It can be a major inhibitor and one cannot get rid of it easily.
 

DerStrom8

Joined Feb 20, 2011
2,390
Sorry to hear that Sparky. I wish you all the best, and I hope you can get things worked out quickly.

When I took Calculus back in high school, I was doing great on the homework. I was frequently getting between 95-100%. But when it came to the tests, I would often get 40-60%. I nearly failed the class. I learned it had something to do with the extra pressure of being under a time restraint. I would get anxious, like Georacer suggested, and I would blank. Sometimes I'd use the wrong method and get the wrong answer, or I'd forget how to do it altogether. Some people just have problems with the pressure. When I was in college, there was a way you could talk to the professor at the beginning of the semester and tell him/her that you have a problem taking tests with a time limit. They would often award you an extra class period to finish the test. Maybe that's something worth talking to your professors about. They'll at least know where to start.

Good luck!
 

justtrying

Joined Mar 9, 2011
439
Try not to worry about it too much. I found my missing piece, but that only meant that I knew why I will never have the same grade on the exam as I will when doing homework - misreading and misinterpreting test questions mostly and suddenly forgetting formulas that I have been comfortably applying for weeks (I guess that is the stress part, doubting my knowledge). I know that I can do the practical work and understand the concepts, of course it would be good to have the marks, but marks aren't everything.
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
One problem may be that questions on exam often often are very different from the text book questions. So a well known method then I was at school. Was to in good time before exam. Start solving previous given exams as training. Then I had gone back and solved exams up to 10 years back in time. I repeated the process.
The "secret" behind this. Is that exams questions very often are made by the same people. And by solving older exams you will learn how the person behind the exam think. And quite often also questions on exam. Will often be variations on questions given in previous exams
 

justtrying

Joined Mar 9, 2011
439
One problem may be that questions on exam often often are very different from the text book questions. So a well known method then I was at school. Was to in good time before exam. Start solving previous given exams as training. Then I had gone back and solved exams up to 10 years back in time. I repeated the process.
The "secret" behind this. Is that exams questions very often are made by the same people. And by solving older exams you will learn how the person behind the exam think. And quite often also questions on exam. Will often be variations on questions given in previous exams
That is why in our tech school we had no access to old exams. Or were allowed to take our tests home, you can look but you can't touch. They were deemed school property. I even tried to argue once that it is my wrong answer, and since it is my solution, it is my property, but no go ;)
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
That is why in our tech school we had no access to old exams. Or were allowed to take our tests home, you can look but you can't touch. They were deemed school property. I even tried to argue once that it is my wrong answer, and since it is my solution, it is my property, but no go ;)
Ah... in my country exams are considered public information. After the exam day. So they have to hand them out.
 

justtrying

Joined Mar 9, 2011
439
in our school it seemed to differ between the departments. Some gave access to old exams and others did not. It was not a unified policy. In a university that I went to, they actually SOLD copies of old exams to students.
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
Hello everyone.

I've had my AS results today and I'm devestated. After all the revision, extra classes, homework, school work - it hasn't paid off.

20 minutes before my further pure exam I did a mock in mock conditions I got a comfortable A* at 95% - in the exam I got an E.

Crap like this continues. Something is wrong in my 'jigsaw puzzle' and I need to find the piece. I can do the maths and the physics easy - just not in the real thing.

I might not be on for a while, so thanks to everyone for your help and chats.

I'm not doing anything stupid, I just thought I'd let you guys know.

Chat to you all later,

Sparky
Sounds like you have severe anxiety during testing or a form of dislexia. You shouldn't be banging 90%+ on practice tests and Failing the real ones. Somethings afoot here and its not your mental abilities. Please talk to your guidence counsiler and ask her about bad test takers, anxiety and possibly dislexia. I know over here if you get diagnosed with either your time limits for the test get thrown out and you can have as much time as needed. This doesn't mean your dumb or anything just that you see things differently. Don't leave, face your issues head first, you'll get plenty of support here and probably some answers.
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
I take multiple choice tests every year for different courses and I do find that at times, I read the question too fast and may miss a key word or two. I am constantly reminding myself to slow down.

Most timed tests allow an appropriate amount of time. The time is definitely a stressor to throw you off your game. 60 seconds is alot of time on a per question basis and I know alot of timed tests allow more than 60 seconds per question.

Stressors come in many forms, like, the echo of a count time clock where you hear every tick of every second, reminding you of the eventual ending ... as something to get into your psyche.

Like Max said, you shouldn't be pulling a 90 plus percentile on practice tests and doing poorly on other tests.
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
The difference could be between public institutions and private institutions.
Yes in my country higher education is public. You have to apply in order to be accepted. And your grades will have all to say on the most attractive universities or faculties.
Instead of having a lot of students asking for copies at the faculty office. They just printed up collections and sold them at the campus bookstore for a fair price. Often with a solution manual also
 

vk6zgo

Joined Jul 21, 2012
677
Make sure you aren't kidding yourself with the "mock" exams,& that they are done under strict exam conditions.
I guess they will be,if they are done by the institution,but don't just rely on those ones.

Do a lot of them at home under strict exam conditions,until you are consistently getting a good result.

Another trick for the real exam, is to,when you read through the questions, look for the easiest questions & do them first,so you already have some marks to play with,then do the harder ones.
I used to get stuck on a hard one ,& use up so much time,I didn't get to answer the others properly.
 
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